Why Are Anganwadi Workers Across The Country Considering Going On Strike?

While the mainstream media has focused a lot on the demands of corporate India in Arun Jaitley’s upcoming budget, what has passed under the radar have been the demands of the backbone of India’s rural healthcare – Anganwadi centres and their workers/helpers.

India has had an estimated 12 lakhs child deaths in 2015 (of a total 59 lakhs global deaths) in 2015 and roughly 40% of our children are stunted (a case of chronic malnutrition). Manmohan Singh had rightly called malnourishment India’s “national shame” in 2012. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme of the Government of India working to change the scenario and is implemented through States/UTs. The scheme operates through a network of 13.18 lakh Anganwadi Centres. At present 13.31 lakh Anganwadi workers and 11.59 lakh helpers work at these centres.

Anganwadi
An Anganwadi is a government sponsored child-care and mother-care center in India. It caters to children in the 0-6 age group. They provide healthy food, clean water, toilets, immunization to children and expecting/nursing mothers and learning environments for children in poor families. According to government figures, Anganwadis serve over 9 crore children and women. The All India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH), a national level body working with state based associations and other organizations all over the country has been aiming to secure better wages for Anganwadi workers/helpers and delivering greater services to the low-income families across India since 2004.

Tens of thousands of Anganwadi workers from all over the country have marched numerous times to the state and central parliaments to strengthen the Anganwadi scheme and fight for the rights of the workers/helpers. Inspite of recommendation from various Parliamentary committees and think-tanks to not reduce the budgets for ICDS, its budget was drastically reduced from Rs 18,108 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 8,245 crore in 2015-16. It is shocking to see the budget reductions given the severity of the situation in child nutrition area for the country.

The Anganwadi workers and helpers are paid a paltry amount of between Rs 3,000- Rs 15,000 and Rs 1,500-10,000 (varying by states/UT’s) ‘honorarium’ respectively. The situation varies significantly with Pondicherry providing the highest wages of Rs 15,000 for Anganwadi workers and Rs 10,000 for Anganwadi helpers whereas in Gujarat, for instance, an Anganwadi worker earns Rs 4,250 and a helper gets Rs 2,100 per month. A Times of India report had previously mentioned that the payment Anganwadi workers receive in Gujarat is less than what a donkey-owner will get by giving the animal on hire (Rs 8,432 a month). President of Maharashtra Rajya Anganwadi Karmachari Sangh, MA Patil said in a press conference on February 12 that – “Because of the budget cuts, funds to pay rent of the Anganwadi premises have not been paid leading to many Anganwadi centres having to be vacated or workers facing harassment from land owners. Also, lakhs of Anganwadi workers across many states have not received wages for the last 5-6 months. Even the quality and quantity of food provided to the low-income families has taken a hit because of the budgets”.

In line with what is seen as another step in government withdrawal from healthcare, the government has signed an agreement to “develop and modernise” 4000 Anganwadis with Cairns India Limited, which is a subsidiary of Vedanta. AIFAWH has strongly condemned what it suspects is the Government’s move to “privatise the Anganwadis” through corporates and NGOs.

Anganwadi Workers And Their Demands
The Anganwadi workers have placed a number of demands to the government – increase in budget allocation to ICDS to the tune of Rs 36,000 crore, stopping privatisation of Anganwadis, categorization of Anganwadi workers as government employees, increase of minimum wage to Rs 18,000 per month (in line with the lowest 7th Pay Commission) and the implementation of 45th Indian Labour Conference recommendations. Mr Jaitley has agreed in his pre-budget meetings to the delegations of Anganwadi workers/helpers that the government intends to spend on ICDS and that the remuneration received by Anganwadi workers/helpers is too little. In case the budget does not meet their demands, the representative organizations have called for a week long protest week across the country by holding demonstrations, dharnas in every village in case these demands are not met in the upcoming budget.

Given that in 2014-2015, the government had a “revenue foregone” (calculated as the sum of concessions of customs duty write-off, excise duty write-off and corporate income tax write-off) of Rs 5.49 lakh crore. The Logical Indian Community hopes that the Government can support the malnutrition suffering children of this country by providing for the Anganwadi and Anganwadi workers/helpers. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be too long before the demographic dividend that India possesses becomes a demographic disaster.

If Failing To Take Care Of Parents, Prepare For A Salary Cut: Assam Govt To Govt Staff

Partner Story

An Army Colonel Is Changing Lives Of Thousand Of People From North-East Using White Bullets

Retiring after spending 32 years in the Indian Army, Col Chris Rego is helping change the destinies of hundreds of children in conflict-affected North East India through his “White Bullets” initiative. With this initiative, he hopes to bring peace and progress to communities across North East India.

Luminouswanted to bring out the Colonel’s story to the world to inspire and motivate others as it believes that education is a strong tool to empower women. It is supporting Col Rego’s cause through an initiative called #Luminaries – the brave people who stand up for causes like girl child education and make a difference in the society.

Col Rego’s journey started over a decade ago in Manipur when a tribal woman knocked on his door pleading for support for her daughter’s education. Touched by the woman’s story, Col Rego and his wife delved into their savings and arranged for the money for the girl’s education. Two years down the line, the woman returned, this time with a small pumpkin and a shawl that she had knitted, and all the money she had borrowed. Moved and realizing that their money could make lives rather than earn paltry interest, Col and Mrs. Rego embarked on a journey to arrange for sponsorship of many more underprivileged children.

Retiring from the Army, Col Rego took over as CEO of Sunbird Trust, a not-for-profit organization which he founded in 2014. The Trust now sponsor over 1,000 children in 21 locations acrossNorth East India. The centre of Sunbird Trust’s activities is at beautiful Ijeirong, Manipur.

Recognizing Col Chris’s immense work, Luminousacknowledged him as their first Luminary. Through this, they hope to bring more power to his elbow in the notable work he is doing. The Luminousteam travelled to remote Ijeirong village and installed solar products. These solar products will help in providing power to the entire campus 24/7 for the very first time.

The Logical Indian salutes Col Christopher Rego for his untiring efforts and leadership. His efforts are already having a cascading effect on people from across India joining the “White Bullets” endeavour. Quite amazingly, education, in itself so empowering, is merely a means to PEACE. We hope the path illuminated by #Luminary Col Rego and his Sunbird Trust team acts as a beacon for others to follow.

If you too have stories of change, share them with us. And if you want to connect with Colonel Rego, click here.